"This midrash is saying that any way that we may experience God is only a partial manifestation of the Divine Reality. It contains a subtle warning, reminding us not to take any one of our images too seriously, not to confuse our finite images for the infinity of God."

War in the Torah, and next also is here for an overview of the issues of war, and then lastly this article, which contains this quote, stating plainly what I said above: "This midrash is saying that any way that we may experience God is only a partial manifestation of the Divine Reality. It contains a subtle warning, reminding us not to take any one of our images too seriously, not to confuse our finite images for the infinity of God."

This is lovely. We always have to remember, I think, that words are also images!

Of course there are two sides to this - God infinite, but the finite receives its reality from God so in some way reflects Him. There is always that tension between those two methods of theological reflection - the negative and the positive. Negative theology taken alone simply leaves us silent and disconnected. Positive theology makes God a kind of extension of creation, a sort of perfect object. The mystery always is how the two are one.

I like the mind to be a dustbin of scraps of brilliant fabric, odd gems, worthless but fascinating curiosities, tinsel, quaint bits of carving, and a reasonable amount of healthy dirt.